We have received New York and Baltimore papers of Wednesday, the 14th instant.
Affairs around Nashville — Breckinridge said to be Reinforcing Hood.
The situation at Nashville is unchanged. Skirmishing goes on daily, and on the 13th the Confederates dismounted several guns in Fort Negley by their artillery fire. A telegram from Louisville, dated the 12th, says:‘ A loyal gentleman, whose trustworthiness is vouched for, says he is at Sparta, Tennessee, with about ten thousand men. This gentleman speaks of what he knows, and the fact indicates that Breckinridge intends to reinforce Hood, and, if possible, to reach the main rebel army; but the position of our troops under Stoneman and Burbridge indicates that he will have difficulty in forming a junction with Hood.
’ A correspondent of the Boston Advertiser, writing from Nashville, gives the following Yankee opinion of General Hood's operations:
‘ A rumor prevails that Hood has been reinforced by a part of Price's army; but the chief of General Sherman's staff, who approves or, "permits" all telegraphic news, does not believe it. His theory is, that Hood will probably attack us, and that he is the worst bamboozled man in Tennessee to-day.--Maybe, and perhaps not. A distinguished New York paper remarks that Hood's name can hardly be spoken without provoking a laugh. Out here, people hardly see it in that light, or know where the laugh comes in. I do not believe in that policy which consists in disparaging or ridiculing an enemy. The true way, it seems to me, is to give the enemy all the credit they deserve, for whatever skill or strength they show, and still have confidence enough in one's own cause to have no unmanly fear of the result of a conflict with them.
’ Had Hood succeeded in breaking our centre at Franklin he would have destroyed our army there. For a long time the scales trembled in the balance. "Yes, sir," said a brave officer who witnessed the battle, "trembled fearfully in the balance." It is, in some sort, an impiety to overlook such facts and sneer at a foe. It is not honest, nor honorable, nor wise. Hood is in strong force around Nashville; he seriously threatens the city; but I believe the confidence universally felt that he will fail to be well founded for several reasons, and among them these:
Hood probably did calculate on crushing our army at Franklin, and did not calculate on our gunboats, which are expected to prevent him from flanking and invading Kentucky. But before we sneer at him, let us admit that he redeemed his master's promise of invading Tennessee, for he does hold the entire country south of Nashville, with the exception of four fortified places, at his mercy. It is a country full of forage, corn, pigs and cattle; it can and does subsist his army. If he is acting wildly, let us whip him before we talk of his desperation. There will be time enough then.
The latest from Sherman.
The latest Yankee advices from Sherman are by the Arago, from Port Royal, South Carolina. They say:‘ The latest advices from Sherman at the time the Arago left — on the 8th instant--were that his advance troops, comprising mostly cavalry and light artillery, had reached a point only forty miles from Savannah and were steadily feeling their way towards that city, with every prospect of capturing it with very little loss to his army. He had succeeded in severing the railway communication leading to and from Savannah, and had cut off the most important routes of supplies for the troops that were hastily assembling in the defence of the city.
’
"the tomb of Washington in the hands of guerrillas."
Such is the heading of a Yankee plaint over the lost opportunity for making some odd dimes by showing the tomb of Washington to curious strangers. A letter from Alexandria says:‘ In one respect, three years of war have made no difference in this vicinity, so far as guerrillas are concerned. In 1861, it was deemed unsafe to go from Alexandria to Mount Vernon, and there is the same danger now. The guerrillas are very bold around here, frequently coming to within five miles of the city limits; and if a courier is met by them on any of the high roads, he is unceremoniously robbed, though seldom receiving bodily harm unless resistance be made. The farmers in the vicinity have lost heavily in their stock, these rebel robbers having a great predilection for all the horses they can lay their hands upon.
’ From the suburbs of Alexandria you can see a range of hills, on which can also be discerned the tower of Fairfax Seminary; and beyond that tower it is very unsafe to travel, for the region in the vicinity is infested with guerrillas, some of whom may, as you look towards those very hills, be gazing therefrom with a covetous eye upon the city, and only kept from entering it by the Union troops stationed there. And as to Mount Vernon, it is now very rarely visited. --There are no longer tourists from all parts of the country gathering to do homage at the shrine of Washington.--The negro hack-drivers in the streets of Alexandria prudently decline to drive anybody out there, no matter how large is the proffered pay. It is fortunate that the Prince of Wales visited Washington's tomb before the war; for it would have been rather humiliating to have been obliged to send with him a large military escort to Mount Vernon to save him from the rebels prowling around in sight of the National Capital.
Miscellaneous.
Information has reached the Yankee Navy Department that the United States gunboat Otsego, Commander Arnold, was sunk a few days ago by a rebel torpedo in the Roanoke river, six miles above Plymouth, North Carolina. The torpedo was attached to a log and floated in the river, and as the Otsego was moving up the river on a reconnaissance, she struck the torpedo, which, exploding, caused her to sink. There is only six feet of water in the Roanoke river where she went down. No person on board was injured.The Canadian courts in Montreal and Toronto both, on Tuesday, decided that they had no jurisdiction in the cases of they St. Albans raiders and the Lake Erie "pirates," and the prisoners were all liberated from arrest and are now again at large. United States Marshal Murray has received instructions from Secretary Seward to proceed to Montreal immediately to look after the interests of the United States Government in the case of the St. Albans raiders.
Admiral Farragut arrived in New York on Tuesday, and was being lionized by the "leading citizens."
The trial of the famous libel suit of George Opdyke versus Thurlow Weed was commenced in the Supreme Court of New York on Tuesday. The trial attracted great attention, and was attended by some of the first men in the community.
The Navy Department has received a dispatch from Rear-Admiral Porter, dated Fort Monroe, in which he reports the capture of the blockade-runner steamer Emma Hendry, with a cargo of seven hundred bales of cotton, by the Cherokee; and the schooner Mary, with eighty bales of cotton by the Mackinaw.
Gold went up to 234 1-2 in New York on Tuesday, under the failure of Warren's expedition.
